Fluid

AJ Jackson & Gaby Parra

ARCH 3510

Professor Douglas Hecker Spring 2022

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

With Los Angeles being one of the cities with the highest mortgage and rental prices, it leaves housing to be unafforadable and creates a financial burden to many. This design overcomes these high Los Angeles housing prices by taking advantage of the site. This ultimately makes a profit from the owner’s residence and profit from additional rental units on the site, introducing a new typology to Los Angeles tourism and housing.

Fluid resembles the fluidity in the curved roof design and the ongoing greenroof along the hills, the fluidity of rainwater throughout the unit, and the constant fluidity of renters in the units.

The use of greenroofs, a water reuse system, and natural pools create a sustainable environment within and around the units to make living more affordable and pollution-free. These systems allow for new ecosystems to form and avoid distrupting the exisitng ecosystem by implementing a design just like that of its site. With the new technological use of 3D printing we are able to carve into the hill for these units (to avoid disruption of the view from the hill) and reuse the resources carved out into the making of the walls and roof of the design.

Fluid’s goal is to start a new sustainable future in land and resource use and to give back to the environment with which residential design is placed.

The roof of the residential and rental units are 3D printed, using the material extracted for the underground units. These materials consist of the soil of the existing site as well as local California sandstone located by the coast to promote sustainable resource usage. The goal is to take advantage of the 3D printing technology, 3D printing the walls, roof, greenroof grid, exterior steps, interior steps, countertops, bed frames, sofa frames, and flooring. This allows for cost efficiency in construction and furnishing and avoids any waste materials.

The greenroof consists of different sections for lawn, sedum, and plant material. The lawn areas are located directly outside the vertical curves where the entrances are from the inside of the unit to the outside. Sedum becomes the main grass material around the roof. It acts as unwalkable space and sets boudaries of where the site lays. Sedum gathers a lot of rainwater runoff to prevent mudslides and flooding, along the hillside though rare in the California area. Lastly is the plant material. Large thick bush like plants are strategically placed around the sky lights to allow for privacy from the outside looking in.

They also outline the vertical curves to block people from step offs. Aquatic plant material surrounds the natural pools, these filter the pool from algae and harmful bacteria and ultimately avoiding chemicals from the pool.

The exterior steps on top of the greenroof allow for circulation from the residential owner’s unit to the rental units below. These allow for access through many paths across the roof and give different views of the hills surrounding the site.

In the areas of the roof where there are no steps and greenery is placed, grid like stability supports for the greenery keep the plants and grass in place and prevent them from moving around the roof over time and when it rains.